Ill start off by saying that I am entirely new to this forum, and also new to any form of telecommunications.

I was recently hired at an alarm center, and the phone system here appears outdated. I know from checking out the phone closet that they use a Toshiba Strata DK424 phone system. The phones at our stations appear to be mostly Toshiba DKT-2020 models.

My question revolves mostly around the possibility of me donating my 15 or so modern Polycom phones to the company, and using them to replace the old phones. Is this possible? Or is it due to the fact that they are different brands/standards not allow them to be used to to proprietary systems?

A tertiary question, not sure if this is the best forum to ask this, but I'll give it a go. My work uses the MAStermind Monitoring suite, and we wanted to get the auto-dial function working again. Would this work with my new Polycom phones? Or maybe even with using the older Toshiba models? Having an auto-dial function would be a life saver as I make lots of calls and entering the numbers becomes tedious quickly.

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I am interested in learning about telecommunications a bit more deeply but these things seem quite daunting from first glance. I will happily answer any additional questions that might help.
Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

the dk424 is not voip capable so the polycom phones will not work on it.

Since your polycom phones wil never work on your Toshiba system here is a link to the Administration Guide for your system. It will explain how to set up and use system speed dial numbers.

As mentioned, the Polycom phones won't work on that system. The DK424 was replaced by a new VoIP capable system about 20 years ago (which is also retired). The DKT2020 phones are digital and proprietary.


Did it work before? It looks like the only way the auto dial function will work is with an SLT basic analog phone plus modem, or a TAPI connection to the phone system. As far as I can remember, that old system did not have any TAPI capabilities. It could have worked with the newer CIX system and an application server, but that option is no longer available.

I remember seeing a DKT2000 series phone with an RS232 25 pin serial interface on it. I was told that this was Toshiba's attempt at CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) but I don't know how this worked, or if you can find any of these around. Either way I don't think that it would be work investigating.

These old systems are quite a work horse, but it isn't going to fully integrate with more modern applications.

Thanks for the information. I'll be selling the Polycom phones now that I know they wont work with our system.


The phones did work with an autodial function, but prior to us using MAStermind. I would love to get it working again regardless, as MAS obviously has functionality for it - and as stated earlier it would make my job easier.

Or you can keep the phones and replace the PBX, LOL





I wonder how it worked on the old system. I have worked with other dialers that would make a call and then transfer the call back to the agents extension. I don't know if that is how the old system works, but it doesn't look like this is an option with the MAStermind system, based on what I read. I think your best option is to ask the company that made the MAStermind system and see if they have any recommendations. The would probably have a good idea on what PBX systems that work with their system. If it involves any CTI or TAPI, or other computer integration with the PBX then you will probably be out of luck.

The DK did support TAPI using the RPCI-DI which provided a 25 pin serial port but that was around 20 years ago when we were using Windows 98/2000. I doubt that the drivers will work with Windows 7 or 10.